Masters and Post Graduate Studies

Why Studying Abroad is 100 Folds Better Than Studying in India

2012-08-02T09:15:00.003-07:00

Higher Education Abroad Makes You Unique - Not a Clown

I have a career of around 8 years of IT career in India and Australia including some of very best organizations in both the countries.

I am not married so don’t have richer experience to that level.

However, for all those who have big dreams and ambitions, please remember that “Dreams and Ambitions keep evolving and so does the focus of human being”. This depends on how your life takes you as you go further.

Today you have a dream of studying abroad, tomorrow it will be a good job and day after tomorrow it will be a super rich idea of being entrepreneur.

However, these dreams or goals are inter-related.

If you don’t take your actions seriously, these dreams will still evolve but you would be chasing only one dream or change over to something else.

Studying Abroad is hundred folds better than studying in India because of following reasons.
Perspective and Culture

It gives a different perspective to people, societies, countries and an opportunity to meet different people and share experience.

Today not only I know about Australia, I know about China, Vietnam, Korea, America and Mexico through different friends and room mates.
Value of Education

Education in US/Canada/Australia/UK is valued worldwide, so your chances of getting job globally will be more.

Once you settle yourself in a country, world does not stops neither India.

You have better chances of coming back with far more saving then you would have in India.

I have seen so many people studied and worked in US and then they back in India and grabbed super good positions(Vice President, Senior Manager, CFO etc).

Let me tell you incident in one of the companies I worked, one fine day I get a mail in my inbox about new manager and I asked my colleague, “hey who is this new manager?” Colleague -”fucking some UC grad who has done MS and MBA in US and few years of experience in US, now fucker will write emails and chill his ass down the comfy chair while we work whole day and night and he earns dollar kinda salary in Indian Rupees” – Truth be Told

Money and Salary

One of my friend came back to India after working in UK for around 5 to 6 years. He was having a good life there and married his girlfriend after having ups and downs in family but now they have started their own business in Mumbai. They managed to earn good money and saved for business.

You have always option to buy a house in India while you are in US and put that on Rent. Lots of people do that. Benefit – You mom and dad get stable income out of it for their old days. I don’t say buy a house on full down payment.

Buy it on loan and then try to pay it, I reckon it won’t be that hard to pay monthly installment when you are earning in dollars keeping in min d all your expenses.
Skills Development

Come here and live independently, it is far more harder than living independently in India. Here a student gets only few hours to work part time so you have to work those hours to earn and above to that study hard to get good grads, still is not ended.

You have to do all household chorus yourself because you cannot hire a maid to do stuff like in India where even student do hire maids and stuff, forget about families.

Remember this make you more independent, organized and develop time management skills.

Job Search Advantage
How many people know about graduate jobs and internships.

I don’t know what they call it in US but here a student gets a super knowledge through graduate jobs and internship.

Keep in Mind that you will end up working for years in an organization and never gain that kinda knowledge what you get in graduate programs and internship sometimes. This internships and graduate jobs are not easy to get if you are an experienced professionals and only students gets opportunity to grab these grad jobs.

Most important thing needs to be mentioned here from my past experience is that not all job fetches you right kinds of knowledge and constantly evolving learning curve.

Like a tester keeps testing same test cases everyday and a developers sometimes is either on bench or keeps supporting a software rather than developing a new code or working on a new project.

What IT companies in India are doing is simply collecting people and putting them on bench to show high statistics to clients of their manpower which increase their credibility to grab projects globally but situation is not like that here. You learn heaps and you get better opportunity. You don’t check emails and go home.

Life Experience

All those people who commented part time jobs as shit jobs etc etc are ignorant, uneducated or belong to a village because they have not experience such things. I proudly declare that I have worked in restaurants, bars, McDonald, taxi stands, being a radio jockey and a sales representative.

Does it change anything in me?

Well to be honest it change my overall personality and compelled me to think why western culture is more progressive than any other culture.

I learned workplace ethics, communication skills, professionalism, small things like gratitude, honesty, ownership, time management skills, customer relationship, readiness and activeness both physically and mentally and finally respect and love for people of all caste and creed.
Living and Racism

Well all those people above have discussed about racism let me tell you a bad truth here, “Racism is everywhere” it is in India, US, Australia, Canada, XYZ country but it lies in the minds of few ignorant people who malign the entire society.

Don’t you come across with some “son of soils” in Mumbai who thinks they took your job but never thought that a person called Dhirubai Ambani gave jobs to thousands of them and never thought that person like Raj Kapoor or some chopra give a new definition to film industry.

Have you never been come across people in Karnataka thinking that people from other parts are grabbing their jobs and polluting the city. Think over this and other issues in India before concluding anything about any country.

BTW, every person knows about Mahatma Gandhi here, His thought and teaching are part of their course curricular(I am talking about top university in Oz, NewZealand etc). Nobody knows “Raj Thakre”.

*****

Above points give an amazing perspective about Higher Education and what students gain from studying abroad.

Some comments said I’m exaggerating the contents. But, just like Ashish, I have faced and lived the reality in USA.

I’m much more equipped to face real life challenges today with experience of attending school as a being independent student in USA.

Skills you pick-up while studying abroad will make you unique and prepare to face tougher challenges.
I couldn’t have developed this blog and built millions of visitors, if I were to be in India. Exposure I got from studying and living in USA translates to contents in this blog.

Are You on the Fence?

I hope this article will change your mind and give new perspective about studying abroad.

Get Education from Abroad. Pickup Amazing new skills. I bet you will get Stronger and become a better person overall.

What do you think about this article? Wold you now consider studying abroad?

Following post was written by Ashish Arora- Graduate Student in Australia.

Why International Students in U.S. are Unique?

2012-08-02T09:09:00.002-07:00

Millions of students graduate from colleges and universities every year. Only handful have desire to be different. You are one among the handful, who have desire be different. Desire to study in United States of America make you unique and different from the rest. You could have any number of reasons to study in U.S. but do you realize, just the desire to face the unknown makes you so unique from the rest of the group?

What Makes You Unique?

It is easy to find a job after completing studies or study post graduation in your home country. But, you decided to take the challenge. Experience that you gain from the process of studying in U.S. makes you different. Lets walk-through some of the challenges you have to face/overcome. It’s that desire coupled with the effort, makes you stand apart from others.

Only small percentage of students have desire to study in U.S. from your class.
Only half of those exclusive group take initiative to learn about the Study Abroad in U.S.
Only small percentage from that group will prepare and take exams like GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic, etc.
Not everyone who took exam go forward with application process and drop out due to one or more of the following reasons
- Opt for countries where it takes less effort to get admission.
- Parents not supporting their quest
- Too expensive to study in U.S.
- Decided to work instead of education
- Try to come to US visa H1B or L1
You have crossed above 4 stages and applied for admission.
Not everyone with I-20 will get student visa to US.
Small percentage of visa holders drop out due to personal reasons (Family, Health, ..)
Most of you will travel in the flight for the first time in your life to U.S. (How cool is that?)
During your course education, you will
- learn to make decisions in your life for first time
- understand the impact of making incorrect decision
- learn to cook, starve, do laundry, meet friends from different walks of life
- realize friends goal in life is different than yours
- realize the value of money take care of finances
- learn to be independent
- Start looking for jobs that will pay you
Level of Education is much higher, so your skills will improve every course you study.
Understand U.S. culture and adapt to new lifestyle
Complete your education after overcoming so many other challenges.

There are lot more that we can add to the list. After completing a journey that started 3 to 4 years back, you will realize that you are an important person too. You did something only few have accomplished.

Opportunity to study in U.S. is available to everyone, but you made use of the that. Now, you can enjoy the moment and feel proud and unique.

Prospective Student: If you are in the process of applying to U.S. for grad school, keep-up your good work. Every challenge you overcome, you are getting one step closer to be considered UNIQUE.
Current & Graduated Students: Would like to hear your experiences (challenges, stories, ..) that you came across.

Is the Indian Middle Class Dream of Studying in America is Fading Away

2012-08-02T09:06:00.004-07:00

I’m doing bachelors in mechanical engineering. Hopefully I’ll graduate in year 2013.

I want to do masters from USA . That’s my ultimate dream . I’ve read all articles on your website. It’s a great help indeed.

I’m planning to do GRE & TOEFL test in Dec.

But what thing is hitting my mind is that you mentioned in a post that it requires around 22lakh rs in your account as liquid cash.

Well ! I’m a middle class family member. So we can’t have that much money. So after realizing that my dream has started fading away.

Should I go for GRE & TOEFL then ? Or consider it as a waste of money since getting f1 visa requires a lot of money. Kindly reply asap . I’m very very confused . Please help.

- Rajesh Bhandari

Studying in USA for a student from middle class family is not an easy task.

Considering the U.S. Dollar conversion rate, US education is getting expensive.

But, It’s good to have a dream – Higher Education dream.

Rajesh, just like you several students from middle class family dream about study in USA.

Many of them just give-up considering the magnitude of effort required to just to get F1 Visa.

It takes hard work and dedicated effort to get good score in GRE, TOEFL, admission in US Universities and then comes 800 pound gorilla in the form of visa interview.

But, you have to understand – most of the students coming to USA are from middle class family.

Everyone have to go through the same process to come to USA. Those who have come to USA have gone through each and every step, that you have to cross.

It will be tough.
It will be frustrating.
It makes you feel hopeless at times.
It drains your energy.
It takes lot of time
It takes motivation
It costs lot of money.

But, you can’t achieve greatness without overcoming all the “It Factor’s”.

If you are really desperate, then things will line-up in your favor.

Opportunity will come to you, but you have to TRY.

You might fail to get visa after spending lot of time and money. But, only way to find, if you can reach your dream is by going through the process.

So, instead of losing hope, gather your strength and start preparing for GRE, TOEFL and studying in USA.

There are thousands of students like you who can inspire and give hope to your dreams are following this blog.

GMAT gets new format,will focus on reasoning

2011-12-12T17:59:00.000-08:00

Essay Writing Dropped;Debut In June 2012

If you want to ace GMAT the key to the worlds best B-schools its time you start honing your visual interpretation too.The Graduate Management Admission Council announced the components of the new format which will debut in the June 2012 NextGen GMAT.
The new section,named Integrated Reasoning,will have four basic formats.Graphic interpretation will be a multiple-choice question based on images.Multiplesource reasoning will have questions from the same data.Table analysis will be based on tables which can be sorted in various ways according to the requirement.Also,for the first time,GMAT will provide candidates an on-screen calculator.This will be only for the fourth format called two-part analysis.
The new section will be for 30 minutes and consist of 12 questions,giving a candidate approximately 2 minutes for each question.
The time for the exam will remain the same (3 hours 30 minutes) and so will the total scores.The new section will be incorporated by dropping an essay from the analytical writing assessment.So far,students had to write an essay and analyze an argument.The latter has been retained.The length of the two other sections verbal and quantitative sections stays as it is.
GMAC is changing the test format after 17 years.It was done after a survey of Bschools in which they asked new skills be measured.GMAC always believed in evolving the exam according to needs.Many schools felt that a higher order integrated reasoning should be included.Data analysis is a key point in business now.Most B-schools have case studies in their syllabi.The new section will test the candidates ability to interpret visual images like pie-charts and histograms,convert data from verbal and graphical representations,to understand relationships from graphs and integrate data from various sources, Ashok Sarathy,vice-president,GMAT operations,told TOI.
Sample questions are available on the GMAC website.The test prep materials will be available from April.Students can now start practising other sections and can focus on the new section from April, Ashok said.
GMAT is becoming popular among Indian students and B-schools.There has been a 10% increase in the number of students appearing for the test in the past year.The number of schools accepting the score in India has increased by 200% over the past four years.

Whats new

New section named Integrated Reasoning
Includes graphic interpretation,table analysis,multi-source reasoning and two-part analysis
Essay on Analytical Writing Assessment dropped
Section will have 12 questions over 30 minutes

Number of tech graduates swells; salaries at IT firms stay stagnant

2011-11-23T23:27:00.001-08:00

Right in the middle of the placement season in 2010, at one of the popular Tier 2 engineering colleges in Mumbai, Rohith, 21, decided not to sit for any placement tests. In 2008, when his sister passed out of the same college, she was recruited by one of the top IT services companies and was offered an annual package of Rs 3 lakh.

Three years down the line, Rohith and other aspiring software engineers of his batch were offered the same package to be part of what they considered the most exciting industry. India's IT firms recruits an increasing number of fresh graduates every year and is one of the largest white-collar employers.

But the packages offered to campus hires at most Tier 2 engineering colleges have remained unchanged since the 2008-09 downturn, stagnating between Rs 3 and Rs 3.5 lakh. While the demand for IT and IT-enabled jobs remain high, placement coordinators and students say more Indian IT firms have refused to hike fresher salaries. And the clear reason for this: growing availability of good talent and a spurt in engineering colleges in the past three years.

India has the largest technical and scientific manpower globally and total graduate outturn - the number coming out of colleges - across sectors has doubled over the last decade enabling greater scalability for customers. The outturn of technical graduates and post graduates increased to over 7 lakh in FY11 compared to a little over 5.5 lakh in FY10, says Nasscom in a report earlier in the year. Enrolment in technology colleges in the same period increased sharply from 12 lakh to 16 lakh.

"Being able to work for one of the top 5 IT companies is a big thing among students. The entry-level salary in most of the IT companies such as Infosys, Wipro , TCS and Cognizant have remained between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 3.25 lakh since 2008. Even if they offer the same package in future, demand for these jobs is not going to come down" , says Varkey Philip, who heads the placements committee at the Rajagiri Institute of Engineering and Technology at Kochi. He says IT is still the most preferred for most engineering graduates.

At RV College of Engineering in Bangalore too, entry-level salaries are stagnant at the pre-2008 recession level. While companies like Oracle and Microsoft offer between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 8 lakh to freshers, Indian IT companies, which recruit more, offer Rs 3.5 lakh on an average. NS Narasimhan, director of placements and training at RV College, says colleges are only worried about getting all the students placed, and not about the level of their salaries.

"Most of the graduates work for a year or two and make the most out of your new job and experience. Colleges are only worried about getting them the job. Companies are not going to witness a supply shortage and hence they are not compelled to raise salary packages", he said.

Low entry level salaries are the biggest leverage for Indian IT firms to keep costs low. Most maintain a 60:40 ratio of freshers versus laterals. Most Indian IT firms also have to invest significant amount in training freshers to get them job ready.

At Infosys for one, freshers go through an average of 3-6 months of training before becoming billable. Nasscom pegs training spends per employee in IT-BPO among the highest in the organised services sector. At iGate, which would offer annual packages of between Rs 3.1 and 3.25 lakh to campus recruits this year, salaries have gone up marginally over the past three years. Srinivas Kandula, Head of HR operations, says that the entry-level salary remains stagnant because companies cannot afford to increase the cost.

"It is a cost to the company. We invest on the freshers," he said. "In fact, fresher salaries have gone up marginally, probably by 5%. Companies invest heavily on training and upgrading talent. Raising entry-level salary can have a cascading effect. Unless there's a significant change in demand-supply, this trend is likely to continue," says P Thiruvengadam senior director at Deloitte India.

There has also been an increase in supply of good quality talent cited as major concern by IT firms for over a decade. Three years back, Anna University in Chennai was the only place where IT firms made 1,000-plus offers every year. But now, there are at least six such universities where companies have made offers to over 1,000 students in a year. TCS at Sastra University, Cognizant at VIT and Amrita University, Infosys at Amrita University and Accenture at Amity are top examples.

"In the last few years, the quality of engineering graduates passing out of premier institutions across India has gone up significantly. We believe that this is because of a variety of reasons: stronger industry-academia linkage programmes, greater student connect with their predecessors through social networks, increased number of seats in reputable institutions, increase in the number of colleges especially those run by corporate houses, and so on," Shankar Srinivasan, Chief People Officer of Cognizant said.

HR experts say Indian IT has lost the power to increase prices as costs have risen and the industry has matured. This too is causing salaries to stay flat.

Log on to research at IISc, laugh all the way to bank

2011-11-20T23:35:00.001-08:00

Research in computer science has never been as glamorous and lucrative as it is now. With companies like Google, IBM and Microsoft now preferring to have a research lab in Bangalore, there is a spurt in the number of students doing PhD in computer science at the city's flagship Indian Institute of Science.

IISc now generates the highest number of PhDs in computer science in the country. In 2011, 91 people enrolled for a PhD in computer science at the Computer Science and Automation (CSA) department in IISc, up from 35 five years back. The number of students doing masters in computer science leading to PhD too is increasing at IISc: from 35 five years ago to an average class of 60 in 2011. Y Narahari, chairman, CSA, points out:

''IISc is No. 1 in the country in computer science PhD enrolment. IIT-Madras has 55 PhD students, while IIT-Mumbai has 25.

He says IISc is particularly attractive for PhD as Bangalore is the tech hub of the country.

''Name any big IT research lab and you have it in Bangalore. Most of these labs want hardcore researchers who can understand and develop algorithms for next generation computing and are willing to pay them well.''

What's your foreign degree worth?

2011-11-19T20:41:00.001-08:00

When 23-year-old Saurav Roy (name changed) decided to join a three-year IT engineering course at an Australian university in 2006, he did so at a seemingly opportune time. The Indian economy was booming and jobs seemed plentiful.

There were hundreds of other Indian students like him, headed to countries like Australia, whose colleges seemed far easier to get into, than their counterparts in the United States or the United Kingdom, the traditional study destinations for most Indians looking for that coveted foreign degree.

As is the case with many foreign universities now, the first year of education was spent in India with classes conducted through a partner institution of the university in Kolkata, where he lived. But it was when Roy reached Adelaide in 2007 to begin the second year that his troubles began.

Accommodation was difficult to find and it turned out to be expensive, he finally ended up sharing a flat with another Indian and two local boys. The Indian boys didn't get along well with the locals with disputes about the sharing of bills.

"And though the students had the permission to work 20 hours a week on or off campus, jobs were difficult to come by," says Roy. Being a talented musician, he worked at a local music studio in Adelaide on part-time basis. That was a job he enjoyed and it earned him some money as well.

It was in the midst of this that the newspapers began to fill with headlines about violence against Indian students in Australia. Roy had a small taste of this, he claims that the parents of one of the local boys he shared a flat with, threatened him. Scared, he returned to India and told his mother, who had raised a Rs 20-lakh loan to finance his study abroad, that he would not go back.

So after two wasted years, Roy returned to India for good in 2008, just as the global economic crisis took hold and job markets around the globe tanked. The credits he earned in Australia could not be transferred to any college here and he has now enrolled afresh in a management course through correspondence at a college in India.

Top Engineering Colleges in India – 2010 rankings – Best Government & Private Engineering Colleges

2011-11-19T09:18:00.001-08:00

This year’s list of top notch engineering colleges in the country is out. Year 2010 Top Engineering Institutions Ranking is a result of survey conducted by Outlook magazine and MDRA (Marketing & Development Research Associates). The survey was undertaken to evaluate the status of educational institutions in the Country in varied professional fields like engineering, medical sciences, law, hotel management, dentistry, architecture, fashion technology etc.

You would be interested to know on what attributes engineering colleges are ranked as equally as I am. Its based on the metrics brought about by Outlook and the researchers. Detailed questionnaires were sent to over 1,000 colleges in the chosen streams. Given the quantum and quality of responses, only three streams – engineering, law and hotel management – were deemed fit for objective analysis.

These three streams were evaluated on a combination of objective and perceptual data (with equal weights). A panel of 120 experts from the corporate sector and academia were carefully selected for consultation on establishing the parameters and sub-parameters for ranking and their importance.

Compiled below is the end result of the survey and ranks both government and private engineering colleges in a single list. As usual IITs topped the list this year too.

Research in India declining: NRN

2011-11-16T21:47:00.001-08:00

Interest in research in India has been on the wane in the past few decades despite outstanding overall economic growth. In the 1980s, India was among the top 10 countries in the world producing original research, slipping to no. 12 in the 1990s. And in the first decade of the new millennium, its position further slipped, alarmingly, to below 20, said NR Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus of Infosys.At the sidelines of the event announcing the names of the winners of the 2011 Infosys Science Prize, speaking to TOI, he said the Infosys Science Foundation and the Science Prize were created to counter this downward-moving graph and "encourage research and recognize scientific talent" in the country.

Murthy said that research was no longer seen as a prestigious career option because India has failed to "provide adequate encouragement, incentive and appreciation for students to get into research areas". While acknowledging that the government was moving in the right direction by its recent move to increase spending on research by a factor of 5, Murthy asserted that Indian industry also has a role to play in fostering research.

On a lighter note, Murthy said: "Those who achieve scientific success have to be showcased as heroes and stars.'' IISc Prof wins physics prizeThe Infosys Prize this year has been awarded to six scientists __ Prof Kalyanmoy Deb from IIT Kanpur for engineering and computer science; Dr Imran Siddiqi from CCMB Hyderabad for life sciences; Prof Kannan Soundararajan from Stanford University for mathematics; Prof Sriram Ramaswamy from Bangalore's Indian Institute of Science in physics; Prof Raghuram G Rajan of the University of Chicago for economics, and Dr Pratap Bhanu Mehta, head of the Centre for Policy Research New Delhi for political science.

Each award carries a cash prize of Rs 50 lakh. On the jury are eminent scientists and researchers from universities across the globe, including Nobel laureate Dr Amartya Sen. "As one of the winners from last year said, the nice thing about working in science is that you get paid to do something you really enjoy. Unfortunately, not many people are made aware of this. We have to sell science and science education as a fun, interesting thing to do and a fantastic career," said Prof Ramaswamy.

The Q Factor in Indian B-Schools

2011-11-16T21:40:00.001-08:00

How to Choose the Best School for Your Child

2011-11-16T18:04:00.001-08:00

The admission season has started.Here are some pointers on how you can find the best school for your child

It is that time of the year when parents are busy picking the school they would like to have their child admitted.The next academic year is still 6-7 months away,but schools start the admission process not just for the first standard but also for nursery and playgroups in November.Just like a college admission or admission to an MBA course,the little ones and their parents have to go through the rigmarole of filling up application forms,attending interviews and also the stress caused by the anxious wait for the final admission list.This is seen by many parents as the important first step for a good education for their child.I have been studying the curriculum and the teaching methods of various schools in my suburb for eight months now, says Sandeep Bachhe,a Mumbai-based technical analyst.I identified 7-8 schools based on proximity,feedback and the curriculum.Then I ensured I met parents sending their children to these schools to get a first-hand feedback.Based on the parents feedback and our expectations,I shortened the list to three schools and picked one from them, says Sandeep.The fact is parents want their kids to get the best education possible.Unfortunately,in their eagerness to provide the best education often they consider only the affordability factor before deciding on the school or curriculum.Sure,it is an important parameter,but there are certain other factors one should look at to make the right choice.

CHOICE OF CURRICULUM

Gone are the days when a parent had just schools of state board or the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to choose from.Today,there is a wide range of options,including schools following the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and The International Baccalaureate (IB)/ International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) curricula.You may be already clear about your choice of curriculum,but there are a few points you should consider before making your choice.If the parent/parents have a transferable job and the child has to change schools frequently,he/she should ideally opt for an ICSE or CBSE school.Parent in a government job that involves transfer to tier-II towns should ideally opt for a CBSE school.If the transfer is restricted to metros or urban areas,parents can opt for ICSE or a CBSE School.The logic is that ICSE schools are still a rare concept in smaller towns of the country, says KSR Iyer,a Navi Mumbaibased counsellor.I have a job with prospects of overseas postings.For some reason,if I migrate to some other country,I dont want my childs education to suffer.Hence I have opted for IGSCE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) board, says Sandeep.

SCHOOLS CREDENTIALS

There are a number of international schools mushrooming in every corner of cities.It has become a lucrative business given the high fee structures of such schools.It has become more of a fad for parents to say they are sending their child to an IGSCE school.If the school or the management of the school has a pedigree and expertise in the field of education,it definitely adds to the schools credentials.But that alone in not enough.I was keen on sending my child to a school following the IGSCE curriculum.But,after doing some homework,I realised only a few IGSCE/IB schools in India have the right global recognition, says Meenakshi Rajan,a Bangalorebased software engineer.I learnt that the recognised international schools in every country are listed on the IB website (formerly known as International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO)).According to the website,only 85 IB schools in India have the necessary global recognition.

STUDENT-CENTRIC APPROACH

Today,many schools have recognised that all children are not equally prepared for schooling,especially in the initial years of education.Students may show some learning disorders such as dyslexia,or have stronger visual memory,etc.Hence,many schools have learning resources centres to give extra coaching to such children to bring them at a par with other students in the class.As parents,we think our child will be the best student of the school.But,we may be in for a surprise when our child may actually struggle with the curriculum.Hence,it is better to opt for schools having such resource centres that can mould students, says a teacher with a popular school in South Mumbai.It is also important for a school to have a healthy teacher-to-child ratio,especially in the lower classes.Thanks to the school,I learnt that my daughter is interested in reading and music.We have frequent teacher-parent meetings,which help us understand our childs evolving interests.Now,I can think of formal training in music for my child or,at least,I have an idea what would be her choice of activity in the spare time, says Abhilasha Joshi,a mother who also runs a beauty salon business.

FINANCIAL COMMITMENT

The minimum outgo for an ICSE school is.50,000 for lower classes.For IGSCE,it goes up to over a lakh.This is not just a one-time commitment,it is rather a recurring expense and it keeps rising year after year.As parents,we have asked the school to give an indicative fee structure for next few years.That ball park figure will help us save accordingly for future years, says Abhilasha.Ideally,a parent should start investing for the childs education as early as the childs conception.If a parent starts investing for the childs education,he/she should continue till the age of 24 or so till the child becomes financially independent.Given the current uncertain times,Suresh Sadagopan,a certified financial planner and Founder Ladder 7 Financial Advisories says,Parents should always have 2-3 years school fess in a balanced fund at any point.That would save them all the worries on the fee front. If the school fee is.60,000,for example,ensure you have.1.8 lakh to.2 lakh in a balanced fund or a mutual fund that you can redeem if needed.Moreover,if you have such a fund,you can always use it for any other emergency.But remember to replenish the money in the fund once you meet the emergency need.There are a number of child plans and moneyback plans available in the market,which typically address this need for covering childs expenses.Typically a parent gets emotionally drawn in to buy such expensive policies.But mutual funds are the best low-cost investment option, says Sadagopan.Write down your requirements,identify and study the schools that match them.Interact with parents who send children to these schools.Make an informed decision and be financially prepared to help your child enjoy his/her growing years.

IITs,IIMs Devise Ways to Take Stress Head-On

2011-11-16T18:02:00.001-08:00

ALL-OUT BATTLE:

Technical and management institutes tweak study programmes,promote extra-curricular activities,invite parents to campus and even arrange counseling with psychologists to help students cope with the burden of high expectations

Life took an unpleasant turn the moment Abhinav D (name changed) joined IIT Kanpur.A topper throughout school,the 18-year-old suddenly found himself struggling to cope in a class full of students equally bright or even sharper.Before long,he found himself spiralling into depression.A long stint of counselling later,Abhinav is faring better in his studies and is an enthusiastic participant in campus activities.
Many others arent as fortunate as Abhinav.This year,seven students have taken their lives across the countrys premier technological institutes,an unsettling new high.While 5,857 student suicides were reported across India in 2006,the figure jumped to 7,379 in 2010,according to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau recently.Only the best and the brightest make it through the country's leading educational institutes.But this is just the beginning of the battle.Fierce competition and the burden of expectation a great job and salary are seen as natural corollaries have been taking their toll on young students.The issues range from family pressure,adjustment and relationship problems,placements and fear of failure.The good news,however,is,institutes are stepping in to provide support.From counselling cells to student and faculty mentorship programmes,extracurricular activities,changes in curriculum,rescheduling of classes or even giving students the option of switching to slow-track programmes,every effort is being made to ease their burden.Counselling sessions with qualified psychologists and psychiatrists with assured anonymity are par for the course at the IITs,ISB and other institutes of higher learning.IIT Delhi has recently started an intensive Student Mentorship Programme,where third-year students are assigned five to eight students from their hostels in the same department to have personalised interactions on all issues,ranging from academic to co-curricular,participation in extra-curricular activities and general problems.This is especially useful during the initial stay of the freshers on campus,where interaction with seniors is limited,and prevents ragging.Members are selected after an interview.Nearly a 100 mentors are selected for 700-800 freshers.Its a big help for first-year students,including those from small towns,to make a transition into college life, says IIT Delhi's general secretary,students affairs council,Rachit Gupta.IIT Kanpur says has been offering extensive counselling services and has even been helping out other institutes,including building a template for IIT Gandhinagar.They have even taken the help of Dr Manas Mandal,director of the Defense Institute of Psychological Research,who has dealt extensively with issues of stress among soldiers.For our 700-odd undergraduate students,we have assigned about 200-250 student guides from higher batches to help them with their orientation.Each student guide is again attached to a faculty guardian and all issues are dealt with in a very confidential manner, says dean (student affairs) AK Ghosh.This apart,students are given the option of dropping courses if they cant cope,and making up for it over the summer.Management schools are not far behind.At Xavier Institute of Management,Bhubaneswar,director PT Joseph teaches EQ and Leadership as a mandatory foundation course.Students are helped to identify their emotional problems as part of the course.There is a group therapy session with 10-12 students per session,which helps them build rapport with their classmates so they can help each other, says Joseph.IIM Bangalore has also taken initiatives to deal with academic stress.Students who are not doing too well are identified in the middle of the first year and put on a slow-track programme,so they can complete their course over three years instead of two.We are also looking at implementing changes in the grading system from next year, says PGP chairperson Ishwar Murthy.At IIM Lucknow,director Devi Singh says the moment any sign of problem crops up,the institute gets involved through the student community and faculty.Parents are informed in a discreet way and we get them over to spend time with the child.If necessary,we even let them take the student away for a few days.That apart,all IIMs have reduced pressure in the first year in terms of the number of courses, says Singh.Students should be encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities,says VK Gupta,officiating director,MDI Gurgaon.We have a lot of facilities including a gymnasium,golf,tennis,badminton and so on for students to destress so they can relax and enjoy, says Gupta.But will all these initiatives ultimately help in curbing student suicides or stress Counselling and mentoring are very well,but you cant take away from the fact that in todays world,all of us are ambitious and institutes are constantly driving us to excel.Its hard to maintain that balance sometimes, says Vivek Nair (name changed),a second year student of the National Institute of Technology,Warangal.Its high time societal mindsets were transformed,says IIM Lucknows Singh.We refuse to recognise that stress is a problem;neither do we recognise the role psychiatrists have to play... As we become more urbanised,these problems are bound to increase.Creating instututional and societal infrastructure is a must, he says.

WHAT INSTITUTES DO TO HELP

COUNSELLING is provided at most institutes to help students focus,understand and deal with the issues affecting them THE counsellor offers support and understanding,and respects anonymity IITS also offer guidance from seniors and faculty members assigned to them.They are also encouraged to take part in fun activities IIM Bangalore and Lucknow have made changes in curriculum to allow students to switch to slowtrack programmes AT XLRI Jamshedpur,behavioral science courses help dealing with stress.A home-away-from-home culture is encouraged IIT Kanpur allows students to drop courses if they can't cope,and making up for it in summers

Doing a PhD? It’s worth it!

2011-11-16T08:40:00.001-08:00

There are a handful of arguments to bring down the flying banner of a PhD degree. Not many of us actually end up doing one. Nobody wants a PhD degree when they can earn a six-figure salary with an MBA or a professional degree in much less time. Sacrificing your sleep and peace of mind to sift through endless piles of research papers doesn’t make much sense either, really. The level of commitment and dedication a PhD demands often equals the determination you may need to climb the Everest. And, it can be painful to see your friends drive away to work in their jazzy cars while you are still ‘studying’ to get a ‘degree’! Let’s accept it, doing a PhD can be an intellectually challenging, physically tiring and emotionally draining. Then why should anyone do a PhD? And, is it even worth it?

In one word, the answer to this is a yes! To begin with, a PhD is an essential tool of the knowledge economy. Doing a PhD is all about creating fresh knowledge, discovering new things and developing new skills. It is a degree meant for those who seek greater depth of knowledge in a specific area. With a PhD, ‘one can make a difference’, says Professor Paul KH Tam, Pro Vice Chancellor and Vice President (Research), University of Hong Kong. “A PhD is about pursuing knowledge for the passion of acquiring knowledge. If one is fortunate, one’s discovery/invention may even change society,” he adds.

Although academics are considered to be the most obvious path for any PhD holder, the degree also paves way to a career in the industry and set ups where innovation is a necessity. “In developing countries, where there is a gap in higher-education sector, but where government as well as society realize and pursue a policy to develop knowledge-based economy, there is an across the board need for increased PhDs both in academia and in industry,” says Prof Tam. He adds that PhDs are required for the discovery of new drugs to satisfy the health needs of an ageing population, to continue making communication technology (iPhone, iPad) as one of the major driving forces of economic activities in modern society and to develop the understanding of humanities as society faces the challenges of coping with the side-effects of science and technology.

“Areas with high demand for very specialized and high level research skills demand PhDs. In the current economy, these areas may be biotechnology, information systems and medical and environmental engineering. That said, a PhD in liberal arts discipline is likely to be a passport to employment in any number of areas from media to political advising to independent research work,” says Dr Emmaline Bexley, Melbourne Graduate School of education, The University of Melbourne, Australia. Sectors such as manufacturing, scientific research and development, health and social work and business activities all welcome PhD holders.

Besides this, a PhD degree helps you develop valuable transferrable skills, which are held dear by the employers. The very nature of the degree teaches candidates to be team players, problem solvers, have great presentation and communication skills apart from having an analytical mind and perseverance. “Employers value the transferrable skills which PhD candidates bring to the table and they take on PhD holders from a variety of disciplines. The process of doing a PhD is often recognized as a training in creativity, critical inquiry, negotiation skills, professionalism and confidence,” says Dr Nathalie Mather-L’Huillier, Postgraduate Recruitment and Admissions Manager (Research), University of Edinburgh.

Dr Harry Kelly, Chemistry Operations Manager, GlaxoSmithKline, says that many view a PhD as an excellent means to acquire theoretical as well as practical skills. He says, “Together with high levels of innovation, creativity and ability to solve complex problems…PhD…enhances transferable skills such as communication skills and the ability to work in a team, both of which are critical to the achievement of our drug discovery programmes.”

Doing a PhD is not as much about ‘patience or persistence’ as much it is about ‘quality and preparation’ according to Professor Richard Anthony Strugnell, Pro Vice Chancellor (Graduate Research), The University of Melbourne. That is why those who earn the degree are held in high esteem. It won’t be wrong to say that a PhD degree gives gravitas to one’s social standing. “In society, a PhD in any field still stands for something,” says Professor Thomas Vogel, Pro Rector for Doctoral Studies, ETH Zurich.

However, it is also a degree to be pursued by only those who are truly driven to do something original, create a new knowledge base and be prepared to discover the unknown. “One of the hardest things to do in the world in educational terms is the PhD, but the rewards are amazing. The self-fulfilment and satisfaction you achieve from it pushes you to go through all the hard work and toil,” says Prof Andrew George, Head of Graduate School, Imperial College London.

But he also adds, “You should only do a PhD if you are really interested in it, not if you can’t think of doing anything better.” Point taken…

Refuse to give up,persist

2011-11-16T00:42:00.001-08:00

Whether its about studying for the CAT or going up the career ladder,persistence pays.To cultivate the habit of persistence,start your journey with the right expectations,expect a hard way and no short cuts. Dont underestimate the difficulty or the duration of the journey

Refusing to give up is a common quality of most high achievers.Persistence is the ability to continue moving forward regardless of your feelings.You push on when you feel like quitting.Persistence is will power and desire combined together.

Calvin Coolidge,the 30th President of the United States wrote,"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.Talent will not;nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.Genius will not;unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.Education will not;the world is full of educated derelicts.Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

When you begin a task,it may move very slowly.If you persist,you will become accomplished at this task and ready to move to the next step.Your accomplishments build upon each other and you become an expert.One of the best ways of learning about the values of persistence is watching a toddler learn to walk.Toddlers learning to walk will get up,totter about,stand,fall,stand again,fall again,and then start to walk,one halting step at a time.They persist with the effort to stand,then walk even after falling hundreds of times.It takes months of persistence,but they do not give up and no one would expect them to do so.

There's a Buddhist saying,"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock,the stream always wins not through strength,but through persistence. Those who have cultivated the habit of persistence seem to enjoy insurance against failure because no matter how many times they are defeated,they finally arrive at the top of the ladder,no matter what.

To cultivate the habit of persistence,start your journey with the right expectations,expect a hard way and no short cuts.Don't underestimate the difficulty or the duration of the journey.You must have a strong motivation which will give you the strength of purpose to overcome the obstacles you will encounter.You must know how to handle failure because failure is a certainty on the path to success.Hard work is necessary in life if you want to get anywhere.If you want to make money,then you have to be prepared to work for it.If you want a relationship to work,then you have to be aware that give and take are required.

If you are building or making something,it will not put itself together and you have to be really prepared to make the effort to do it yourself.

It could be building up a toned body or losing weight.It will not happen overnight.You are a human being with a human body.You need to put in genuine work to achieve self improvement. Be persistent and determined,and you will achieve your goal.